Grip Invest Democratizes Alternative Assets with High-Yield Lease Finance Platform

For the average retail investor in India, the investment menu has long been restricted to three main courses: Fixed Deposits (low yield), Mutual Funds (market-linked volatility), or the Stock Market (high complexity). While institutional investors have quietly reaped consistent returns from "alternative assets" like commercial leasing, the general public has been locked out by high ticket sizes and complex regulatory barriers.

Enter Aashish Jindal, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Grip Invest. An IIT Roorkee graduate with deep product experience at Pepperfry and ICICI Lombard, Jindal is part of the team that’s finally opening the doors. By fractionalizing lease finance, Grip allows individuals to invest in physical assets—from office furniture for Furlenco to electric vehicles for Zypp Electric—and earn fixed monthly returns that are often double that of traditional FDs.

From building rocket ships in the startup world to raising a funding round from its own users, Grip Invest’s journey is a blueprint for the "democratization of yield."

The Problem: The Low-Yield Trap vs. High-Cost Growth

Jindal identifies a dual-sided problem in the Indian economy. On one side, individual investors are seeing their savings eroded by inflation as FD rates struggle to keep pace. On the other side, high-growth companies are being choked by the capital intensity of owning physical assets. To scale, a company like Zypp Electric needs thousands of bikes; buying them outright consumes precious equity capital that should be spent on technology and marketing.

"Fixed deposits have very low returns... it is even lesser than the inflation right now," Jindal explains. "On the second hand, there are companies who want to stay asset-light and scale very rapidly... Grip provides them with the alternate ways of funding."

The Solution: The Lease Finance Marketplace

Grip Invest functions as a marketplace that connects retail investors with companies needing physical assets. Investors fund the purchase of equipment (e.g., furniture, EVs, industrial machinery), which is then leased to a corporate partner. The lease payments are distributed back to the investors as fixed monthly income.

"We are trying to bring all those [alternate] things to the retail investors... at a low ticket size somewhere around 10,000 to 20,000 rupees," says Jindal. This model provides asset-backed security and a yield that is typically 2 to 2.5 times higher than a traditional bank deposit.

Implementation: The MVP-to-Rocket-Ship Journey

As a product veteran, Jindal emphasizes the importance of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Grip didn't launch with a full-blown dashboard. They started with a single home page and manually processed bank transfers while they validated the market's appetite for lease finance.

"You have to start somewhere with one product... then you start building next things on the website," Jindal reflects. This iterative approach allowed the team to learn from real user behavior before building complex features like automated KYC or an integrated payment gateway. Today, the platform is so trusted by its community that it recently raised $1 million in funding directly from its own users.

The Human Side: Monday Blues to Monday Motivations

Entrepreneurship at scale comes with unforeseen challenges, specifically in the "tech talent wars." Jindal admits that keeping every department growing at the same speed is a constant battle. To manage the high pressure, he relies on a culture of Transparency and Courage.

Grip has a weekly ritual: Tuesday 12 PM Huddles. The entire 50+ member team, from the CEO down, joins a call where every department shares its wins and losses. "Anyone can be asked any question from anyone... we appreciate courage and transparency," Jindal says. This openness, combined with a 9:30 AM start that transforms "Monday blues into Monday motivations" through team interaction, is what keeps the remote-first team cohesive.

Future Vision: The 1,000 Crore Target

With a 30% month-on-month growth rate in investor uptake, Grip Invest is currently aiming for a ₹1,000 Crore transaction value within the next year. This involves launching new alternative asset classes beyond lease finance, further diversifying the "wealth menu" for the Indian retail investor.

Key Takeaways for Fintech Founders

• Hire Passion Over Resume: Aashish looks for candidates who can talk at length about a "greatest achievement" and who understand the failures behind the successes.
• Education is the Best Growth Hack: In the investment world, trust is built through clarity. Focus on content and education rather than hard-selling "leads."
• Set the Right Rituals: Culture isn't what you say; it's what you do every Tuesday at 12 PM. Regular, high-transparency meetings build durable teams.
• Celebrate Small Wins: In the grind of a startup, it is critical to stop and recognize the milestones. It fuels the energy needed for the next big leap.

Grip Invest is more than just an investment app; it's a bridge between the physical economy and the digital wallet. By turning lease payments into personal income, Aashish Jindal and his team are ensuring that the growth of India's top startups isn't just felt by VCs, but by the retail investors of Bharat.